UNCW Professors Working to Prevent Extinction of Rare River Dolphin

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WILMINGTON, NC - Professors Ann Pabst and William McLellan from
the University of North Carolina Wilmington have been studying a
marine mammal that is foreign to our coastal waters - the Irrawaddy
River Dolphin. Native to Southeast Asia's Mekong River, the
world's tenth longest river, this genetically isolated population
has a surviving population of approximately 85 individuals and
could potentially be the next mammal to become extinct.

A year ago, McLellan was sought out by the World Wildlife Fund
to review historic stranding cases from the Cambodian Irrawaddy
River Dolphin based on his experience with strandings. McLellan and
Pabst coordinate the Marine Mammal Stranding Program within the
Department of Biology & Marine Biology at UNCW. This program
consists of students and researchers who respond to and investigate
strandings along the North Carolina coast.

"These strandings provide a window of opportunity to help
understand how these mammals make a living. If the marine
mammal is found dead, we aim to figure out the cause of death,"
said Pabst.

Along with undergraduates and graduate students from UNCW, Pabst
and McLellan attended the international Marine Mammal Conference
last November. During this conference, McLellan attended a
meeting concerning the current status of the Irrawaddy River
Dolphin. While at the meeting, the working group decided it
would be beneficial if they planned a trip to Cambodia during the
middle of January 2012. They saw the Cambodia trip as an
opportunity to analyze long-term stranding data to look for trends
and help offer suggestions for future field techniques.

"The Cambodia trip helped gather people with different levels of
expertise to collaborate over this issue," explained Pabst. While
on the trip, they found that fishing nets in the Mekong River were
entangling the adult dolphins. McLellan added, "Fishing net
entanglements are a common occurrence found during the stranding
work."

During the trip, governmental agencies signed a declaration for
commitment in conserving the species. The Mekong River is a major
trading route that links several countries together as well as
providing a majority of the public their main source of protein.
Due to the Cambodians love, need and history with the river, they
are in agreement to help prevent extinction of species by opening
themselves to new innovative ways of fishing.

"The declaration laid out the future of science by help of a
broad international community. We saw this as an opportunity in
trying to save the species before extinction," said McLellan.

Pabst and McLellan both feel that the Marine Mammal Stranding
Program at UNCW helps to illustrate that could be done by UNCW to
help conserve future species from becoming extinct. By
training people to become aware of the world, biology, and human
and societal needs this could create a greater awareness in
conserving species such as the Irrawaddy River Dolphin.

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